1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a container for pills and medicines which is child resistant but is also readily accessible to the elderly or infirm, especially those who have impaired use of their fingers due to diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, parkinsonism, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, myasthenia gravis, stroke, among others.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Child resistant containers are known. Most existing child resistant containers require the user to execute a physical maneuver which is practical for a healthy adult but not for a child. Typically, a two or three step sequence must be followed such as "push down, turn and open". Executing such a sequence is very difficult for the elderly or infirm and nearly impossible for those with debilitating diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, which result in sublexation of the fingers.
It has recently been reported that many of the healthy elderly are unable to open and reclose the child-resistant closures dispensed by most pharmacies. Many such patients open or have someone open their medication for them and leave the medication container opened, taking their medication as needed. Reports from the Center for Disease Control, disseminated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission at a meeting of the American Society for Testing and Materials in 1985, indicate that a large fraction of child poisoning by ingestion of prescribed pharmaceuticals occurs in the home of a grandparent who has left the child resistant medication container in an unsecured position. Because of this finding it is anticipated that the government regulation regarding child resistance, Title 16 CFR part 1700 will be expanded to include the test of an older population for their ability to open and to resecure the child resistant features. It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a container which is child resistant but also accessible to the elderly or infirm.
One approach to providing a child resistant pill container which is accessible to the elderly or handicapped is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,625. This patent describes a three sided container which is opened by a two step procedure: first pushing the cap portion laterally relative to the container and then rotating the cap to reveal the opening This requires a great deal of strength to open (column 3 line 62 to column 4 line 2) however, it does not require a great deal of manual dexterity. Nevertheless, this approach is not considered to be satisfactory for many of the elderly or infirm who lack both strength and manual dexterity.
Another approach to providing a child resistant container which is readily openable by infirm adults, such as arthritics, is found in U.S. Pat. No. Re 31,101. This patent discloses a container having a cap which can only be removed by applying pressure to the underside of the cap. Access to the underside of the cap is offered only through an enclosed channel which is longer than the length of the finger of a child but not longer than the finger of an adult. This approach, however, is not considered to be satisfactory for many of the elderly or infirm whose fingers have considerable swelling or deformation due to disease such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Yet another approach to providing child resistant containers is found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,421,347. This patent, not specifically directed to the elderly or infirm, discloses a container having a plurality of moveable rotatable ring elements which must be particularly positioned to allow removal of the cover of the container. Each ring element has a series of numbers imprinted on it. The user positions each ring element by aligning the proper number corresponding to the solution of an arithmetic equation imprinted on the container. This container would be particularly difficult for the elderly or infirm to use as it involves precisely aligning the rings via small handles which are difficult to grip and manipulate into the desired positions. Another drawback to U.S. Pat. No. 3,421,347 is that the closure described would be costly to manufacture and to assemble.